Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has sought to replace six delegates at this week’s GOP convention in Milwaukee who they feel will potentially create an “unnecessary distraction” for the convention, in an effort to quell potential unrest.
According to the correspondence, John Findlay, the Trump campaign’s director of congressional selection, called six of the campaign’s “alternative delegates” in Arizona and asked them to challenge the status of the six delegates at the convention because of concerns about their loyalty to Trump. Retrieved by NBC News.
But days later, the Trump campaign abandoned its efforts to replace the delegates, saying it had “cleared the air” with the delegates after days of discussions that had sparked concerns.
Trump campaign political director James Blair on Thursday night Posted in X an explanation of the campaign’s decision to withdraw its call for appeals.
“Like true MAGA patriots, [the alternate delegates] “Challenged several AZ delegates attending the Republican National Convention to avoid unnecessary distractions during President Trump’s official nomination,” Blair said in a statement. “Chairman of the delegation of AZ [Shelby] Given Busch’s commitment to clearing the public air and following the campaign’s leadership, we believe it is appropriate for the six to withdraw their calls.
By Friday morning, each of the six alternate delegates had withdrawn their challenge.
“This was not started by anyone in the Arizona delegation or the alternates,” said one alternate delegate, who objected and requested anonymity. “It was brought to us by someone on the Trump team and we were helping the campaign.”
The move speaks to the Trump campaign’s desire to keep tight control of the July convention and divert attention away from the scheduled program. In this year’s primaries and caucuses, Trump surpassed his competition and won 92% of the total delegates who came to the convention.
The episode also pushed Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who served briefly as Trump’s national security adviser, who pleaded guilty and won to making false statements to the FBI before trying to retract that claim. connected right happens during some online chats. Trump’s pardon at the end of 2020 – will be Trump’s running mate in 2024. After being pardoned, Flynn toured the host country. conferences promoting Christian nationalism in recent years.
On Tuesday night, shortly after the Trump campaign sought those primary delegate calls, Patrick Byrne, a close Flynn ally, placed X on the prospect of Flynn serving as Trump’s vice president. Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, met with Trump and Flynn in the Oval Office in December 2020 to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“They’re telling Trump to name a milquetoast vice president who won’t overshadow him,” Byrne said. “In two weeks, Trump will either be in jail or under house arrest. His VP should be a general: @GenFlynn.
An alternate delegate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that Findlay, Trump’s delegate selection director, “repeated” to him the rumor that some delegates wanted to nominate Flynn for the ticket.
“That’s how it was presented to us,” said the replacement representative. “It seems a bit far-fetched, but who knows these days. They expressed their dismay at eight nations coming together to change the rules under the convention.
Two other alternative representatives told NBC News that the Trump campaign had not directly communicated Flynn’s concerns to them. One said conversations with other GOP operatives made it “very clear” that the campaign made the move because of suspicions that Flynn had a desire to run for the vice president.
“[The Trump campaign] I felt that there is a credible threat to the convention and a violation of the convention,” said the second alternative representative.
Busch, the chairman of Arizona’s congressional delegation, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment when reached by phone about this week’s issue of his role at the convention.
In a statement sent internally among Arizona congressmen obtained by NBC News, Busch wrote: “As a result of what has happened in the last few days, I have contacted the Trump Campaign and they have not reassured me or anyone else. influence will involve any violation of the convention, including challenging the rules, platform, programming or other methods. We had no such intention and will never do it.”